Coastal Cleanup drew more than 1,900 volunteers

The volunteers collected 4 tons of trash from nearly 50 sites along more than 80 miles of Delaware's waterways and coastline stretching from Wilmington to Fenwick Island.

Statewide volunteers picked up more than 22,000 cigarette and cigar butts, 67 old tires, more than 2,000 plastic bags, more than 1,300 fishing-related items and more than 26,000 pieces of food/beverage-related trash. Most notable were food-related trash, with 18,000 more items than the 8,000 collected last year, and cigarette and cigar butts, with 8,301 more than the 14,478 collected last year.

“If we could get one message out this year it’s that throwing a cigarette or cigar butt on the ground is littering,” said Delaware Coastal Cleanup Assistant Coordinator Rachel Coats. “We found nearly 23,000 smoking-related items this year – and those numbers are much too high.”